


Promise me to live

by asamandra



Category: Marvel, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: F/M, M/M, Resurrection, Self-Sacrifice, Temporary Character Death
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-02
Updated: 2015-08-02
Packaged: 2018-04-12 16:02:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,927
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4485897
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/asamandra/pseuds/asamandra
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Loki offers Clint a deal he cannot refuse.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Promise me to live

Clint was alone. He stood at the open grave and stared at the casket but he couldn't bring himself to move away. Wanda was quiet the whole time during the funeral and that was worrying but then Steve and Natasha led her away. Slowly, one after the other, the team left and then only he was here. But he couldn't go. He just couldn't. 

In this casket lay a young man who died to save him, Clint. He closed his eyes for a second and thought back. When he grabbed the boy and shielded him with his body, he had been ready to die. He didn't expect Pietro to interfere. He shouldn't have interfered. Pietro had a sister and he was young and his life has just started to become better. And he? He was divorced three times and his wife Laura just filed for divorce, too. She would take their children with her and he would never see them again, she had said that when she threw him out. They were better off without him anyway. He was a killer with so much blood on his hands, he killed hundreds of people, he killed his colleagues and he had helped Loki to almost kill Phil. 

Pietro on the other hand, he could have been a great Avenger but this asshole decided to save him, to throw away his life to save him, Clint. He was angry right now and he would have hit him if he weren't dead already.

“Tragic, isn't it?” he heard a voice behind himself and he paled. He hadn't heard this voice for a long time but he would never forget it. He felt the lump in his throat when he turned his head to look at the tall dark-haired man who stood slightly behind him. 

“What do you want?” Clint pressed through his teeth and closed his eyes for a second. 

“I wanted to... to pay my last respect to him,” Loki came closer and stood beside him now. 

“Piss off!” Clint hissed and folded his arms over his chest. 

“Agent Barton, no need to be so...” Loki turned to him and grinned now, “hostile.” 

“What do you want?” Clint repeated and looked at him now.

“Straight to the point, Agent Barton, as usual,” Loki smirked and Clint glared at him. 

“Do I have to repeat myself?” Clint said now and Loki's smirk broadened. 

“I have an offer for you,” Loki said, all business in an instant. 

“Yeah? What can you offer to me?” Clint cocked his head and Loki grinned. He deliberated for a moment if he should try to beat this grin out of his face. But then, he was Asgardian – or better: Jotun - and Clint knew that he never stood a chance against Thor and the probability, that he stood a chance against Loki, was as small as against Thor.

Loki pointed at the casket. “Him,” he said then. Clint swallowed. 

“What?” his head snapped around and he stared at the grinning alien incredulously. “What did you say?” 

“I said, I can give you, what you want. I can give you his life,” Loki sighed and pointed at the casket. Clint swallowed again.

“How?” he asked then and scrutinized the Jotun. He knew he shouldn't ask but he needed to know.

“Did you know that I have children, Agent Barton?” Loki suddenly asked and Clint had to blink a few times before he realized the change of topic. 

“Are we going to swap life stories now?” he blurted and Loki smiled again. 

“I have a daughter. Her name is Hela. Maybe you don't know it, but your word 'Hell' is derived from her name and...” he sighed again when he saw Clint's expression and continued, “What I wanted to say is, my daughter reigns over the realm of the dead. If you give me what I want I can arrange for you to get what you want,” he added.

Clint's mouth went dry. He looked at Loki for a long moment, before he repeated his question.

“What do you want?” He asked for the third time and this time Loki's smile turned into something feral, dangerous.

“You!” Clint closed his eyes. “If I have to be honest, Agent Barton, of all the minions I've ever had, you've been the most capable. My plan would've succeeded with you at my side. Unfortunately Agent Romanoff upset my plans,” he smiled and Clint really wanted to hit him.

“So, I come with you and you resurrect him?” he asked and Loki nodded slowly. 

“Yes, like that,” he said. “You agree to come with me, you swear loyalty to me, you do whatever I want you to and Hela will bring him back. Unfortunately your... people... destroyed his body when they embalmed him but I'm sure that's not a too big problem for her.” 

“No,” Clint shook his head. “When Pietro is alive, _then_ \- and only then – I will come with you and do what you want,” he said. Loki pursed his lips.

“Well, it seems as if we are on the horns of a dilemma.” Clint looked at him and frowned. 

“Okay, how about... I swear on my children's life that, in case Hela can resurrect him completely without side effects, I will follow you and swear loyalty to you,” Clint locked his eyes with Loki's and the trickster seemed to scrutinize him but then, after a long moment, he nodded again. “Oh, and there's one more thing. I will never shoot at any one of the Avengers,” he added. 

“Yes, I can accept that,” Loki said then. And held his hand out towards Clint. He looked at it for a few seconds but then he shook it. 

“Do it. Now,” Clint demanded and Loki raised a brow but nodded once more. 

“All right. But this might take a few hours,” he said. Clint looked around, saw a bench not far away and went over to sit down. And only a few seconds later Loki followed him. 

“I already called her,” he said when Clint cocked his head. “Now, we wait.” 

It took some time but then Clint saw a woman with a long green coat and black hair appear and walk towards the still open grave. He watched her, she knelt down beside the hole in the ground. Clint looked at Loki, who watched her, too. He had no idea what she did but then, after a while, the woman leaned forward, reached into the grave and something scrunched and he saw a hand take the woman's hand.

“Oh my god,” Clint blurted and jumped up. The woman pulled and another hand appeared. He hurried over to them and saw the casket broken and someone – Pietro – crawled out if it with the help of the woman. She looked at him and Clint knelt down and reached into the grave as well, helped the young man climb out. 

“Oh my god,” he repeated when Pietro fell down face first and he turned him around. He breathed really hard, coughed and retched. The woman hunkered down beside them, leaned down, took Pietro's face in her hands and kissed him and in an instant the coughing and retching stopped. 

“Your time hasn't come,” she whispered before she rose and went to Loki who still sat at the bench. 

“Hey,” Clint murmured and wiped the dirt off of his face. 

“You...” Pietro started and swallowed hard, licked his lips and a small smile appeared on his face. “You didn't see that coming,” he whispered then and Clint couldn't hold back a hysterical laugh. 

“No, I didn't see that coming,” he said and helped Pietro to sit up. “How do you feel?” 

“Hurts,” Pietro admitted and looked down at himself. “What happened?” He looked around and his eyes fell on the grave and he seemed to realize that he just climbed out of it. 

“You died,” Clint stated and Pietro's hands grasped his arms. 

“What?” 

“You died, Pietro. But... but now you're back. Now you're back,” Clint brushed Pietro's bangs out of his face. “You're back and you have a second chance.” 

“Agent Barton,” Clint heard Loki's voice behind him. The guy could move quieter than Natasha and that was frightening. “As you can see, I kept my side of the bargain.” The woman was gone.

“Yes, you did,” Clint whispered and Pietro's eyes flickered from him to Loki and back.

“Who's that?” he asked and Clint smiled at him. 

“He helped you, Pietro,” Clint said, rose and held his hand out for Pietro to take. He pulled him up and led him to the bench he and Loki had waited on and sat him down. 

“How?” Pietro wanted to know and Clint sat down beside him. 

“It's... his daughter... she could resurrect you,” Clint explained and Loki put a hand on Clint's shoulder. 

“Now it's time to keep your word, Agent Barton,” Loki said and he turned around. 

“I will. Just... give me a few minutes with him. Alone,” he snapped and the Jotun scrutinized him for a long moment before he nodded and went away. 

“What... what's that supposed to mean?” Pietro asked and Clint shook his head. 

“His help wasn't for free,” he said and Pietro cocked his head. 

“What...” he stopped and licked his lips. “What did you promise him?” 

“That's not important, Pietro,” Clint said and reached into the pocket of his pants, took out his wallet, opened it, took a few bills and gave them to the younger man. When Pietro looked at the money in his hand Clint gave him his phone as well. “You can get a taxi outside of the cemetary. Drive to Stark Tower. Call Natasha. Speed dial number two. Tell her the first time I met her wasn't in Warsaw as everyone believes but in Berlin and that's where she got the scar on her right hip. No one knows except her and me. She will believe you.” 

“What about you? Why don't you come with me?” Pietro asked and a sad smile appeared on Clint's face. 

“I can't. That was the deal. I go with him,” Clint said and nodded in Loki's direction. 

“No!” Pietro blurted and grabbed Clint's arm when he tried to rise. “No, you can't.” 

“Pietro, I accepted the deal before his daughter brought you back. I did it for you, okay. You deserve to live and your sister needs you.” 

“But... but I saved you, I... I saved _you_ ,” Pietro looked at Clint, tears in his eyes. 

“I know. And... thank you. But now...” 

“No, you can't go with him. You... you can't!” The younger man tried to rise as well but Clint held him back and sat down again. 

“Pietro, please. I can't let you die again. I had to do it and...” Clint licked his lips before he cupped Pietro's face, smiled, leaned in and kissed him. Soft. Gentle. Passionate. He smiled again when they parted. “Promise me to live,” he added. 

“Clint, I...” Pietro started but Clint interrupted him. 

“Tell the team, tell Natasha and my children that I love them,” he said before he rose again. And this time Pietro couldn't hold him back. Clint went to Loki and nodded and the Jotun put a hand on his arm, did something with the staff – not the spear he had during the Battle of New York – in his hand and both, he and Clint, vanished. 

Pietro stayed back at the bench and felt a tear run over his face. “I love you,” he finished his sentence.

**Author's Note:**

> [asamandra on tumblr](http://asamandra.tumblr.com/)


End file.
